Gateley is set to bring the former Halliwells partners it hired in July 2010 into the firm's main limited liability partnership (LLP) from the start of the new financial year.

The deal will see the 43 partners in the Gateley Manchester LLP – which was set up to ringfence the business from the rest of the firm at the time of the takeover – merge into Gateley's English LLP from 1 May. The firm also has a separate LLP for its Scottish operations – HBJ Gateley.

Senior partner Mike Ward (pictured) confirmed the move, which comes nearly two years after Gateley acquired collapsed firm Halliwells' Manchester commercial practice to launch a new office in the city.

The six full equity partners in Manchester are locked into Gateley until July 2013; however, an 18-month lock-in for fixed-share partners expired in January this year.

Ward said the partners joining Gateley LLP "will be full members in one LLP".

Gateley previously said the acquisition of Halliwells' staff, assets and work-in-progress cost the firm £10.6m while also citing the deal as a contributing factor to a drop in profits per equity partner to £152,760 in the English LLP.

News of the plans comes as former Halliwells equity partners this week (23-24 April) took part in a two-day mediation with liquidator BDO in Addleshaw Goddard's London office. BDO is trying to claw back around £21m paid to 32 former Halliwells equity partners from a controversial reverse premium deal on its move to new offices in Spinningfields, Manchester in 2005.